Eleven children were killed in a road accident in Chaoshui, Shandong province, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The packed bus carrying 14 kindergarten children crashed into a truck about 8 am in the town of Chaoshui, police said. The bus was meant to carry only eight passengers, police added.

Three children and the minibus driver were killed at the scene, and eight children later died in hospital. Three other children sustained minor injuries.

The incident is the latest in a series of school bus accidents in China that have sparked anger over unsafe school transport.

In July, 11 passengers, including kindergarten students and teachers, were killed when their bus fell into a reservoir in Xiangtan, Central China's Hunan Province. A Hunan government report said that the school bus had dropped four children at a previous stop. The bus was also overloaded, the report said.

Since 2010, at least 43 school bus traffic accidents occurred in China and 153 people died, mostly children. Investigation showed that the overloading of school buses is the primary reason for the tragedy, according to The Mirror.